Vote Results:
"Yeah, sure, we'll get right on it boss." Freyland replies. "You guys realize this was supposed to be a diversion, not a knock-down, dragout-fight, right?"
The merc commander doesn't have much more to say on the subject.
Gamma-Probe relieves Freyland's lance - the two groups spend several hours taking pot shots at the hostile force from maximum range (the extended-range lasers on the Phoenix Hawks help a lot with that), driving off skirmisher units and avoiding LRM salvos. This leaves El Guapo's lance free to hit the artillery base.
Alpha-Command (technically Alpha-Heavy, but somebody forgot to switch the designation in the comms systems) is basically a couple of tons short of being an assault lance - we've got El Guapo in the (regrettably, standard, although with the ammo bin moved to a safer location) Marauder, Isgrimnur in a Thug, Thud in an Awesome, in addition to a Guillotine. El Guapo also brings along a Manticore and a Falcon hovertank for additional support, and we've got two aerospace fighters closing in with fuel air bombs. Between all our mechs and tanks, that's eight particle projection cannons in total. Not bad.
Plus, our infantry managed to sneak in and plant mines without being detected prior to the fight starting.
Our merc buddies have regrouped and come back for some revenge, bringing three mechs (Archer, Grasshopper, Thunderbolt) and another Manticore, with another heavy tank lance closing in - although by the time those guys get here the fight will likely be over.
These mercs apparently aren't slouches, because the Archer they brought is a 5S - double heat sinks, NARC launcher and NARC-capable LRM launchers, pulse lasers, streak SRMs... pretty nice piece of equipment.
The garrison is eight stationary turrets, including some real nasty ones - a 40-tube LRM setup, a gauss rifle, what looks like a large pulse laser, and another one that looks like a binary laser. The defensive garrison has been mostly stripped of mechs, with just one medium lance (Dragon, Wolverine, Whitworth, Stinger), but a shit ton of tanks - two companies' worth (24). Plus three Thumpers and a Long Tom.
Ideally we'll capture the Long Tom to replace the one we lost against the clans. And nobody's going to complain about capturing some of those stationary turrets, either.
Round 1:
"Air support - what's your ETA?" El Guapo asks, pushing the Marauder's throttle forward.
"Thirty seconds." comes the reply.
"Hey, that's pretty good!" Thud comments.
"Watch those artillery shells until then." El Guapo responds.
An explosion on the south side of the base and multiple smoke puffs indicate that our infantry's sabotage is working.
Unfortunately, the Falcon hovertank that we brought along to help coordinate with our allied units gets disabled by rapid autocannon fire from the south side of the enemy base. Isgrimnur retaliates, scoring his first kill by opening up with the Thug's PPCs at maximum range and melting a Harasser missile platform to slag.
Round 2:
Isgrimnur's Thug makes good use of its SRM launchers - the incoming hovercraft move a little too fast for the PPCs, but a good peppering from the almost-dumbfire SRMs blows the fans off the back of an incoming Harasser as it pings Thud's Awesome with a few missiles in return. Thud, meanwhile lands a solid shot on an approaching J. Edgar, the light hovertank veering sideways after delivering a laser blast and some SRMs to our Awesome.
The allied mercs report disabling the binary laser(*) turret.
Round 3:
Hovercraft continue to swarm us, but the Dislocators have diverted some of the hostile forces to the west, so we should be able to handle it. El Guapo mumbles an acknowledgement of thanks as our Guillotine peels off to neutralize the Scimitar picking away at our Marauder, plastering it with laser fire and SRMs - it dodges the worst of the lasers, but the SRMs puncture the hover skirt and the hovercraft sprays dirt out of its lift fans as it hits the ground and stops moving.
El Guapo's attention is focused on the LRM Carrier up ahead - the gauss turret further south is briefly distracted by the Lightning's bombing run, thankfully missing our aerospace fighter, but the LRM Carrier takes an armor breach and moves to drive off.
Thud and Isgrimnur are unable to take down a Thumper artillery pieces that they observe, but it's only a matter of time.
For more good news, our Lightning makes its bombing run. We hear some muffled cursing over the comms as the aero jock takes some anti-aircraft fire from the AC/2 carrier. And then the southeast corner of the artillery base lights up.
Round 4:
The allied Manticore to the west reports being disabled, while their Archer pilot complains about harassing helicopters and hovercraft (and being knocked over), but so far we've given a lot better than we've gotten. And it's going to keep going as our Lucifer follows the Lightning for another fuel-air attack run.
Thud's Awesome takes a gauss slug to the left arm, but the armor holds. Classic Awesome. Our mechwarrior stays focused and blows away a laser carrier, taking its multiple laser barrels out of action before we close in to deal with the base.
El Guapo backs up briefly into some woods, firing one of the Marauder's PPCs and the autocannon at a Thumper artillery piece, lighting the surrounding trees on fire with his PPC while the autocannon rounds pop the Thumper's left-side wheels.
The Lucifer's bombing run isn't as impressive, but still lights up the southwest corner of the base. A secondary explosion to the northeast of the base indicates another one of our minefields has done its work.
Round 5:
Our Manticore finally shows up - the driver appears to have taken a detour and decided to come in on the west side of the battlefield to help out the allied mercs.
"Don't remember ordering you to do that." El Guapo grumbles, but can't spare much more attention than that.
Our Lightning comes around for another pass, getting revenge on the AC/2 Carrier, shredding it with the fighter's nose-mounted AC/20. "You call that an autocannon? That's not an autocannon. This is an autocannon!"
Our Lucifer switches to direct-fire energy weapons (and LRMs) and targets a Manticore that got caught at the edge of the thermobaric conflagration, finishing it off.
El Guapo hangs back, trying to pick off the gauss turret gently for salvage, observing with satisfaction as Thud lands a PPC shot on the last remaining artillery piece, fusing its left-side wheels in place. The Awesome shrugs off a few SRMs and autocannon rounds coming from the base - Isgrimnur turns one of the Thug's PPC on the offending autocannon turret, which explodes catastrophically. El Guapo grins as his PPC shot precisely picks the gauss rifle off the turret where it's mounted, without blowing it up. Amazing!
The allied mercs report taking moderate damage, but are making progress as they finally score some more kills - an SRM turret and a Harasser.
Round 6:
A Kestrel VTOL** flies up to El Guapo - our Guillotine is unable to target the fast-moving aircraft, but does just fine zapping the infantry fast-roping out of it. Thud, though, evaporates the back of the VTOL with a PPC, infantry scattering everywhere to avoid the crash.
To the west, our Manticore tank reports disabling a Scimitar hovertank.
Then, our Lucifer pilot takes a few hits from LRMs and the aerospace fighter slams into the ground.
Round 7:
A Whitworth (a 40-ton fire support mech) makes the mistake of stepping out from cover right as Isgrimnur walks up. The rest of the interaction is irrelevant as the Thug's first PPC shot burns through the cockpit, dropping the mech instantly. Thud then gives it a little overkill, blasting one of the LRM ammo bins with a PPC.
"Hey, I was going for salvage, what the hell!" Isgrimnur calls out indignantly.
"Sorry. He jumped out." comes the response.
The allied Archer to the west reports taking heavy damage while our Manticore reports that the allied Thunderbolt has taken out another hovertank, the J. Edgar that somehow managed to get away from us.
Round 8:
Isgrimnur stomps into the base, playing hide and seek with a Galleon light tank (a little wheeled thing with a couple of lasers). It does pretty well, avoiding the PPC and SRM fire while damaging the Thug's armor lightly. Until our mechwarrior stomps it flat.
El Guapo turns the Marauder's weapons skyward, blasting a Warrior attack helicopter with the arm-mounted lasers, forcing it to set down on the ground in front of the mech.
Our Manticore picks off the large pulse laser turret that's been carving our allied Archer to bits (in fact, said Archer has lost an arm), while allied forces disable a Falcon hovertank.
Round 9:
"Box them in. Last concentration of hostile forces is to the west of the base. Salvage crews, get ready to move in." El Guapo calls out, watching with derision as the allied mechwarrior in the Archer ejects. Our mechwarrior is briefly distracted by an SRM salvo from a Harasser zipping in, taking a few seconds to blast it to bits with lasers and a PPC shot.
Our Manticore gets in a little over its head, eating some SRMs to the treads and losing all mobility.
Round 10:
Two things happen pretty much simultaneously. First, the Dislocator reinforcements arrive to the southeast. Great job getting into the fight, guys. Second, Thud nearly fires a Warrior helicopter with the Awesome's PPCs to get it off Isgrimnur's back, causing the helo to zip away from the field rapidly.
The mercs collapse another turret, and the guy in charge of the militia defense appears to have had enough - the Dragon (missing an arm) pulls out and to the west, leading its battered tank pals.
"Hey, our salvage is getting away!" One of the mercs calls out. "Get 'em!"
[] "Right. Take the rest out." (continue firing)
[] "Negative. Let them go." (allow retreat)
* The binary laser is a dead-end research project by Lyran Commonwealth researchers from the 3020s. It's exactly what it sounds like, two laser barrels wired welded together. In practice, it generated double the heat but only dealt about 150% the damage. It was kind of a dud, but a whole bunch of the things got made, then sold off as surplus. So we occasionally see them mounted on turrets and other units where heat-management isn't an issue.
** The Kestrel is a pretty uncommon fast troop transport VTOL (originally only in use by the Wolf's Dragoons), able to transport a platoon of infantry at a pretty good clip. This variant has two nose-mounted SRM tubes for a little fire support, but its main defense is its speed (although it's not nearly as fragile as the Ferret and can actually take a hit from a medium laser).